- Boxcars: 42gp, 0-3-3
- Shots: 35
- Plus Minus: -21
- Corsi (Rel): -13.1 (6th among D's)
- GF/GA ON: 15-34
- 5x5/60: 0.20 (5th best among D's)
- 5x4/60: 2.40 (2nd best among D's)
- Quality of Competition: 4th toughest among D's
- Quality of Teammates: 4th best among D's
- Offensive Zone Start FO %: 39.2% (toughest among D's)
- Cap Hit: $942,000
- What do these numbers tell us? Two things: Chorney can't play and the coaches are idiots. Chorney, a raw rookie clearly over his head, enjoyed the toughest zone start among defensemen and top 4 minutes in terms of difficulty and pairing. And although these numbers don't include Staios, Visnovsky and Grebeshkov (since they were dealt away) Chorney was in fact facing tough opposition in his first full season. Incredible. At what point does a drowning man learn to swim?
- How could these numbers be better? He needs more time in the minors but for crying out loud he also needs to be placed in a situation where he can succeed. Whatever the AHL equivalent of middle relief innings are what the doctor ordered.
- Did he do anything well? His powerplay number was good in a very limited sample, but Chorney's going to need to survive defensively for a couple of years before we can talk about him contributing on the powerplay. Having said that, maybe they'll have him quarterbacking the PP based on how quickly they've moved this kid up the depth chart.
- Is his lack of development similar to Cogliano? Yes, a little bit. They both skate well and look like hockey players, but lack both size and "hockey sense" beyond what they do when in possession of the puck. Chorney is definitely from the Tom Poti family of defensemen, but I don't think we're going to see a 750+ game NHL career from this young man.
- What can they do with him? Send Chorney to the minors and have him learn the game at the pro level. He's pure chaos and his positioning is not good. It doesn't help that he's playing much tougher than needed minutes and it doesn't help that Jason Strudwick is his veteran sidekick. But Chorney needs to get back to the AHL and find the range at that level. He should be there for a long time.
- How important is he to the organization? He's going to get passed by a lot of defensemen here in the next little while (unless the club gets super stubborn on him). I would suggest that the Oilers will probably elevate Peckham above him (along with the current blue and any UFA/trade additions) and wouldn't be surprised to see Plante, Motin and Petry called up before him.
- How bad it it? Chorney is some ways from being a player and I think its an open question as to whether he'll have an NHL career.
Projected Role in 2009-10: Oklahoma's top puck moving defenseman
This is scary shit.
ReplyDeleteIncredible analysis of poor Chorney.
When, oh when, does this abortion of a franchise realise that tossing kids into the shark tank before they're ready is a guaranteed recipe for perpetual failure?
Oh yeah, they'll blame the fans, because they haven't got any patience.
Can someone explain how he got on the US roster for the World Championships?
ReplyDeleteNobody else wanted to go.
ReplyDeleteAs for MPS. I didn't see it in the MPS post but our fearless GM is in Stockholm to see MPS and Omark play.
Good chance he gets a contract offer this spring.
Taylor Chorney drowned in the deep end, will not get a chance to pass go, nor collect $200.
ReplyDeleteWhen people talk about players rushed, the poster child is Taylor Chorney. He is pretty much starting off on ground zero next year.
He has so much to work on, work on D play, work on transition, excel at something, he has nothing to hang his hat on at the moment.
At this point, I'll give him great kudos if he can become a fulltime NHL player.
textbook example of why 'seen him good' doesn't work. he was initially fairly convincing. maybe this guy had a shot to stay with the team, but his play over the season just hasn't been NHL ready. or even close.
ReplyDeletethe funniest thing about the oilers this year has been that their badness has been almost without comparison. the number of players on the club who in any other team's development system would be in the AHL is ridiculous.
it makes me wonder how good the current roster of oilers would fare in the AHL - how dominant they would would be in that league. maybe LT should be running AHL equivalencies for the entire team and seeing how they stack up against the Hershey Bears.
it might be the closest we come to anything resembling a championship for a long time.
I haven't seen a player get hated on this much since Gilbert Brule.
ReplyDeleteWe all know how that turned out.
I'll wait as see how he develops playing along side a defender other than Strudwick.
He could very well end up an AHL lifer but I think its pretty hard to evaluate some of these players given the conditions of the club. Tambellini is surely going to make some stupid decisions this fall.
And we'll be discussing Andrew Cogliano's shooting % on the Leafs next spring.
Traktor: I agree that we really haven't seen him in any kind of structured light. Do you agree he needs some time in the minors?
ReplyDeleteHe needs a 40 point AHL season under his belt.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is that he actually had a pretty league average save percetange when he was on the ice. A run of bad luck and he could have challenged O'Sullivan for the green jacket.
ReplyDeleteIt's Friday, so if you don't mind I'd like to start off by catching up on some thank you cards.
ReplyDeleteThank you Chris Pronger. For making me see how an elite defenseman does his business.
Thank you Joni Pittkanen. For making me realize there is intangibles in hockey.
Thank you Jason Strudwick. For making me realize intangibles aren't as important as being able to play hockey.
Thank you Theo Peckham. For getting up on the wrong side of the bed every morning.
Thank You Taylor Chorney. For reminding me that Americans have an enormous sense of entitlement.
I honestly think the organization didn't want Chorney to play as much in the NHL as he did last year.
ReplyDeleteFirst call up was Peckham, but he wasn't ready due to injury and fitness issues.
2nd call up was to be Arsene, but he was also injured at the time.
Chorney was to slotted to be the 3rd call up.
7th defenceman Strudwick ended up playing 72 freaking games due to injuries.
Even OTC said you want a guy like Strudwick to play 30-40 games, not 72.
The amount of time he spent on NHL ice speaks more to the injuries and lack of depth in the Oilers than to how the organization sees him.
He played because he was the best option, not because his play demanded that he move up.
I also think the departure of Vis,Grebs and Staios skews the advanced boxcars a bit, he wasn't really thrown to the wolves and didn't see toughish minutes until after the trade deadline when the die was cast.
Defensive depth has to be the main area of acquisition for Tambellini in the summer.
By my count they have 4 NHL defencemen now with Souray, Whitney, Gilbert and Smid.
Peckham will stick out of camp. Both waivers and his play will keep him in Edmonton.
So that's 5 spots filled.
If Souray returns an NHL dman in trade, then they still need to sign at least 3 more Dman, including someone like Arsene to be a vet presence in OKC and be a first call up.
Sign a 5 and 6 NHL dmen, let Peckham start in the 7 hole and have someone like Arsene in OKC for first call up.
Chorney will then have to compete against Motin, Plante, and Petry to be the 2nd call up.
LT is right, he may be passed. The world championship might help him. I hope so. An NHL organization can never have too many good defencemen.
lots of good nhl defensemen went through waivers this season.
ReplyDeletechorney's dismal display is as much an indication of how poorly the team was managed, as to his performance.
there's probably only 1 or 2 other teams where he would have played in the NHL...
chorney, much like strudwick are more reflections of our asinine mgt than the player's level of ability.
I think differently. Coaches had faith in Chorney and would like him to learn in tough in pairing with Strucwick. Failures can be an invaluable lesson for people. He could be a gem aka Lubo later on. I have been wrong but I could see his potential. Fans and media, please be patient. Coaches know more than anyone of us.
ReplyDeleteGo a head a laugh on my comment.
Anonymous: Chorney reminds me more of M.A.Bergeron than Visnovsky, without yet showing the offence of either. We do have to bear in mind that he's a work in progress who is ahead of his own curve in large part due to cirucmstances mentioned by Woodguy.
ReplyDeleteAs for his upside, it took an entire year but I finally saw Chorney good in a live game just before season's end. It was just a glimpse - he went right back to sucking the very next game - but it gave me a glimmer of hope for some distant future.
Taylor absolutely needs to spend the entire next season in the AHL. i hope the Oilers realize this.
ReplyDelete